January 02, 2004
WELL, THAT'S BIZARRELY COMPETENT.
Air marshals halt passenger on Seattle flight (Seattle Times, 01/01/04)
An ex-convict on a Honolulu-to-Seattle flight charged toward the cockpit, shouting that he wanted to see the pilot, and was subdued by undercover air marshals who were on board to monitor him, officials said. . . .Every once in a while, indications surface in the press that the government is actually working behind the scenes to stop terror, a idea rejected by both the left and the right. The time before this was an uncomfirmed anecdotal report that scientists in Manhattan were being stopped in the subway for questioning, indicating that there might be some fairly sensitive chemical sniffing equipment in place. Posted by David Cohen at January 2, 2004 02:24 PMMaiava got up during the flight and knocked into an elderly woman, Adams said. He also screamed "Where's my shirt?" at one point, then charged toward the cockpit, shouting that he wanted to see the captain, the spokesman said.
Adams said a federal air marshal identified himself and told the 5-foot-11, 215-pound Maiava to put his hands behind his head. Maiava refused, and the other two marshals then identified themselves. . . .
When Maiava told his probation officer he was taking a trip to Hawaii, the officer contacted air marshals and encouraged them to place agents aboard a Seattle-to-Honolulu flight that the man took Nov. 19, Adams said.
Because of concerns he could endanger people on his return flight, three marshals were assigned to it, he said.
I suspect that when politics can be set aside, the professionals do a fairly good job at security. I am sure that things overall are better than when the FBI was the catch-all for terror stuff, and I am sure that the proper agencies and groups have learned (and applied) lots of new tricks in the past 3 years. Having seen all of the news bites of the past few days, one must think that the information being gathered and analyzed is paying off.
Posted by: jim hamlen at January 2, 2004 02:57 PMOK, the air marshals stopped the loon (where were the fabled American air passengers?)--but what happens when the terrorists have a loon as a front man so as to identify the air marshals before taking them out?
Posted by: jsmith at January 2, 2004 03:33 PMThere was another story about New Yorkers undergoing outpatient radiation therapy who were repeatedly being stopped and questioned when taking the subway... as if someone had noticed they were slighly radioactive.
Posted by: Mike Earl at January 2, 2004 04:14 PMHonolulu news outlets say the 2 were deadheading Northwestern pilots, not marshals.
Obscure, but Northwestern says they were "employees" and it appears the Honolulu reporters got the same story from passengers.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at January 2, 2004 04:30 PMI think, Harry, there are two seperate incidents. The one I refer to is the arrest of Reno Maiava on a Northwest flight from Honolulu to Seattle. The other one, decribed here and I think the one you mention, involved Brandon Gabriel Rines (obvious serial killer name) on a Northwest flight from Detroit to Honolulu.
Posted by: David Cohen at January 2, 2004 05:05 PMOh. Remind me to choose some other airline next time.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at January 3, 2004 12:43 AMjsmith:
Sure, the terrorists could do that, but it adds another layer of planning and complexity, which lowers both the chance of the plan working, and the chance that they'll decide to try.
After all, a professional auto thief with full tools can steal almost ANY vehicle, no matter how secured or alarmed, but we still lock our car doors, because most vehicles stolen have the keys left somewhere in them.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at January 3, 2004 04:04 AM